Live Like There's No Tomorrow
by BeWhoYouAre99
Summary: Scorpius's best friend Rose has cancer and she's dying. The two become closer but is this love real? Can it last? Is it true? A story of love and reality. One-Shot.


**A/n: I started writing this story in October 2011 and its been lying half way done in my notebook. I decided to complete it today and hope that you'll enjoy it.**

Scorpius Malfoy lived a perfect life. He really did. He was eighteen years old, rich, popular and girls fell at his feet. His life was heading exactly the way he wanted until something changed everything. That something was actually a someone named Rose Weasley, who was one of Scorpius's best friends since he was a kid.

She was also eighteen years old and a down to earth girl, who lived everyday like there was no tomorrow because there was a possibility of her dying any day. Her parents had tried to find a cure for but there was nothing no one in the Muggle or Wizard worlds could do. She was on the last stage of leukemia. She was going to die and that was that.

Scorpius didn't believe in love. He really truly didn't. There wasn't any specific reason for this because he just thought that there was no such thing as love, marriage or soul mates. His parents Draco and Hermione had been happily married for twenty years and it really disappointed them that their son cared so less about women. He smooth talked, seduced, slept with them and left them with a broken heart. Never the less, he was still their son and they loved him but hoped that one day he would change for the better.

Ron and Pansy Weasley's daughter was five feet six inches tall brunette with light hazel brown eyes. She was intelligent, funny and charming. She wasn't a damsel in distress; she wanted to be the one doing the saving. She had an air of confidence and grace; she was a Gryffindor after all and had inherited her mother's feminine beauty. After graduating from Hogwarts, she had dreams of becoming a Healer at St. Mungos but two years after graduation and here she was a patient at the same hospital she once wanted to work for.

xXx

Rose, Albus Potter and Scorpius were close friends and stayed together almost all the time. Once Rose found out that she had cancer, she was heartbroken and scared; she was only seventeen and didn't want to die so soon. She and her two friends had planned to go to Italy for a few months before they would start their adult lives. Rose made an excuse that she'd gotten an internship at the Wizarding Hospital and wanted to stay in Britain to work. Scorpius and Albus were reluctant to go without her but she persuaded them to leave without her.

xXx

June:

It was summertime and the Malfoy and Potter boy were back from an extremely long trip from Italy. Scorpius's mother Hermione held a welcoming home party for the two of them at the Malfoy family's ancestral manor and of course Rose was in attendance as well. It had been quite some time since she had been diagnosed with life threatening cancer and now she had come to term that she was going to die soon. She still had a full head of hair and the only difference in her appearance was that her eyes didn't have a happy glow anymore.

By this point everyone knew of her condition but she hadn't told Scorpius or Albus yet because she knew that they would react unhappily.

xXx

Rose left the party early. She didn't say a word to anyone and didn't even meet her two best friends who were surrounded around by their friends.

Albus and Scorpius sat with Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, Albus's sister Lily Luna, Roxanne Weasley, Teddy and Victoire Lupin and Lucy Weasley.

Lorcan made a comment of Rose rushing out of the room and Scorpius spun his head to see why she'd left without meeting him first.

"She left in a hurry but as usual, no one is going to say anything to her because she's _Rose_! Doesn't she know it isn't good manners to leave a party in this way?" said Lucy.

"Let her be Luce! She's not well", snapped Lily.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Scorpius. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen her yet so he didn't know anything.

"You don't know?" said Teddy in surprise. "I thought you'd be the first one to find out…"

This got Albus's attention. "Is she okay?" he asked cautiously.

"Umm, it really isn't our place to tell you that", said Victoire nervously, placing a hand on Albus's shoulder. " You should ask Aunt Ginny."

xXx

The two young men made their way to Ginny Potter and asked her if she knew why Rose was unwell. Ginny looked at the boys with pained eyes and sadness on her face and with a heavy heart, she explained with Pansy's help what was wrong with Rose. They couldn't believe what they were hearing and were at a loss for words.

Scorpius felt hurt and betrayed. Why hadn't Rose told him? She was dying and she hadn't told him and he couldn't imagine life without her. He ignored the pain in his chest and quietly left the party to go to the Weasley Family Estate.

He barged in without knocking at the front door and ran up the flight of stairs to get to her bedroom. He pulled open the door and glanced inside. She turned her head to look at him. She smiled apologetically and gestured for him to enter the room and take a seat next to her on the bed.

"Hi Scorpius", she greeted. "You look great. Did you know you've got a tan?"

Scorpius almost snorted. This was typical Rose behaviour to ignore important things by making attempts at small talk. By getting one look at his face, she was sure that he knew of her condition and she wanted to divert his attention from the topic. But no, he wasn't going to fall for this tactic.

"And you look like shit", he said, folding his hands around his chest.

She seemed as if she had been crying. Her eyes were puffy red and her hair was sticking up messily.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" His voice became higher and his fists clenched together. "I would have dropped every fucking thing and come home running if you'd have told me you're going through this_. I_ spent ten bloody months in Italy having fun while _you_ were suffering. Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Scorp, what would I have told you? Like you said, you were having a good time and I didn't want to ruin things for you and from what you told me in your letters, you enjoyed with the Italian women."

Scorpius began pacing around the room. He wanted to punch a hole in the wall as he was so angry at his parents, family, friends and Rose but mostly he was angry at himself for leaving her to go off to Italy. Rose sat cross legged on the bed and in pajamas, twisting the pillow in her arms. "You're my fucking best friend! How the fuck did you think you were going to hide this from? How long did you think this would remain a little secret? I deserved to know. This is un-fucking unfair!"

"Albus is your best friend. Not me."

"For the love of Slytherin, woman, don't say that. You and Albus are both my best friends. And you … and you…"

Rose stood up and walked towards Scorpius. She put her fragile arms around his waist and hugged him as fiercely as she possibly could. The six feet one inch man lowered down his head and rested it against the crook of her neck.

"Rose, I…" he started.

She interrupted. "Don't say you're sorry", she said blinking away the moisture in her eyes. "Now that you know, please don't leave me… just stick around and be my friend." Her voice quivered.

He clung onto her tightly. "I promise I'm not going anywhere", he whispered, his face muffled in her hair and tears dripped down his cheek. "You're not alone."

And that was the first time in the last four years that Scorpius Malfoy had cried.

xXx

July, One month later:

Rose, Scorpius, Ron and Pansy sat in Healer Padma Patil's office, eagerly awaiting Rose's monthly progress report. Healer Patil's face was a mask of no emotions; she turned away from the group of four and stared outside her window. Then she sighed and turned back to them. "I'm not going to sugarcoat this to you and it pains me to tell you this but your blood report came back and by the looks of it, Rose has got roughly a year or less than that to live. I'm really sorry."

This was exactly why Rose didn't keep hope that there was a chance that she could fight her cancer and live. She was a smart young woman and she knew that she couldn't change fate; she had learnt to accept her predicament but her family and friends hadn't.

Pansy remained in complete silence as tears made their way down her face and into her lap and Ron jumped off of the chair as if it was on fire and banged his fist on Padma's desk. "This is my daughter you're talking about! You've got to find a cure for her. Money is not a problem Padma and you know that… I'm begging you to find a way and save her…" the redhead cried.

"Ron", said Padma softly. "There's nothing we can do. You've got to accept that this is going to happen."

Rose stood up and stormed out the office, slamming the door and Scorpius followed after. He walked by her side, holding onto her hand and wishing that a miracle would happen and that somehow Rose would be saved.

xXx

November:

He was her source of comfort. He was the one who could calm her down when she burst into tears as realization of her upcoming departure from the world came near. He stopped eating properly; he didn't get a wink of sleep at night and Draco and Hermione were starting to get worried about their son's health. Everyone was noticing that Scorpius's way of treating Rose was different from how he usually treated women and some of the people who knew him the closest believed that Player-boy Malfoy was falling in love with Rose Weasley but the daft boy didn't even know it himself.

During their days at Hogwarts, everyone (including their best friend Albus) was convinced that Rose had strong feelings for Scorpius but she didn't act on them because she knew that he didn't see her that way. She knew that he only looked for one night stands and occasional hook-ups but she didn't want that; she wanted to love and be loved back.

Scorpius was there for every one of Rose's appointments with Healer Patil and with every visit, he started to loose hope. His best friend was dying and there was truly nothing he could do about it.

Rose had experienced hardly anything yet and the list of things she wanted to do when she grew up was left unfulfilled. She hadn't become a Healer. She hadn't found the man she wanted to marry and now she couldn't fall in love or ever have children. The worst part of dying was that she had hardly lived. As a little girl, she had believed that one day she'd have a house and husband of her own, with two or three children playing in it but now… this future didn't seem an option to her. But when she thought of having a house, she saw herself living with Scorpius. When she saw herself getting married, she saw that Scorpius was her husband and when she saw herself having children, she dreamed that they were Scorpius's blonde babies.

xXx

December:

Scorpius walked into the Weasley's garden and plopped himself onto the bench where Rose was sitting. It was a dark and cold night but Rose loved to sit outside and stare at the moon and stars.

"I need to talk to you", she suddenly said to Scorpius.

"I'm listening."

She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "We're getting too attached, Scorp. This… us… it isn't right for us to be so close. No best friends are this close and you're practically living at my house and that to in my bedroom."

He scooted closer. "Whatever we are Rose, we're right together. When I'm with you, I feel as if there is nothing more important to me. I suffocate when I'm not with you and I think we're more than friends… we've always been more than just best friends…"

"What are you saying?"

He bit his lip. "I love you Rose."

Once those words left his mouth, there was no going back and the both of them knew it. "You don't love me. You don't know the meaning of love and I…I…I don't love you!" cried out Rose. "I do NOT love you."

Scorpius didn't back off. "Yes, you do love me. You need me as much as I need you. We, you and me, we're supposed to be together and you need say it Rose and I need to hear. Just say the bloody words!"

"I'm sorry Scorpius. I'm sorry that I dragged you into my bullshit. What the fuck was I thinking by asking you to stick around for me? I made a mistake", she whispered before running into the house.

xXx

Mid December:

Scorpius dragged himself out of bed and walked down the halls of Malfoy Manor to get to the kitchen where both his parents stood with concerned looks on their faces. He didn't bother to greet them and sat down on a chair and poured himself a glass of water.

"Scorpius sweetheart, it's been two weeks since you last saw Rose. Did you two have a fight?" asked Hermione hesitantly.

Scorpius groaned. "Be quiet Mum. My fucking head is pounding."

Draco took a step closer and took a whiff of his son and smelled whiskey. "You've been drinking?" he exclaimed in alarm. Then he turned to his wife. "Our son woke up at two in the afternoon and he's drunk!"

"Tell me what happened Scorpius. Rose hasn't said anything to anyone and don't say that nothing happened because something clearly happened", Hermione all but shouted.

Scorpius held his head between his hands and he began to speak in between hiccups. "I told her that I love her and she pretty much said that she doesn't give a shit about me and that she doesn't love me." He sounded hysterical. "I love her! I love her so much but she… she… trampled on my heart with her high heel shoes."

"What are you going to do now? You're living at your parents' house, you've dropped out of Auror training and now you've become a drunk. What are your plans, son?" said Draco sternly.

Scorpius laughed. "I don't know and I don't fucking care."

xXx

January:

Scorpius was miserable and so was Rose. They hadn't spoken in a month and they missed each other incredibly. Rose was more depressed than usual and her soul had lost every bit of happiness that Scorpius had brought to her while Scorpius ignored his parents and Albus, indulging in drinking every night and waking up drunk every morning.

On one day when he was sober Scorpius ventured into Diagon Alley to purchase a few things and saw Rose walking into Three Broomsticks, all alone. There was no sight if anyone with her and that made Scorpius a little worried. He ran over to the pub and went inside to see Rose asking the bars maid for a drink. Uh oh, this wasn't right. Healer Patil had specifically said that Rose couldn't have any alcohol in her present condition and he wouldn't let her touch any.

Just as Rose lifted the shot to her mouth, Scorpius knocked it out of her hands and pulled her out of there. Before leaving, he tossed some change onto the table and then scurried out.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" he hissed at her as they walked to the apparition point.

She glared. "What do you think I was doing? Don't be an asshole, Malfoy. I've already got three or four months left to live and I haven't had a sip of alcohol in ages since Mum and Dad removed their entire stock of it after I got sick."

"What kind of excuse is that? If you're so intent on dying, then do it peacefully. Why increase the pain?"

"Fuck off Malfoy. I don't want to deal with your shit right now."

"Rose…" he said.

"Scorpius", she said before her eyes widened and she staggered to the ground.

The next morning, Rose woke up in a hospital bed with her mother sitting next to her while her father and Scorpius paced the room.  
>"She's awake", exclaimed Pansy with relief.<p>

"What happened?" asked Rose drowsily, her eyes fluttering.

"You passed out in Diagon Alley. Remember what I told you about not leaving the bed, Rose? You are in an extremely fragile condition and what you did yesterday was foolish", reprimanded Padma, while making observations on her clipboard.

Then she continued, "Ron, Pansy, I'd like to have a word with you two. Outside."

And with that, Rose's parents left with Padma, leaving Scorpius and Rose in the room together.

"I've had enough time without you Rose and it sucked like shit. I still love you and if you don't love me, that's alright but I want to be around you and be here for you because things are about to get scary", said Scorpius.

Rose bit back a sob. "What frightens me is that I love you too and I don't want to leave you. You're an ass, a liar, conniving and a complete jackass but I love you more than I've loved anyone", she said.

Scorpius was in shock. Did Rose just say that she loved him?

xXx

March:

Rose had been admitted into St Mungos on Healer Padma's firm insistence. She said that it would be better for everyone if Rose was in the care of skilled and dedicated Medi-Wizards and Witches.

Scorpius was staying with her and taking care of her. It killed him to see her so pale, tired and with bruise-like dark shadows under her eyes. She wasn't his Rose anymore; she wasn't that vibrant and happy girl she used to be. She was slipping away and that to, fast.

Before going, she had a plan and that plan was to get Scorpius back on the right track. She had already convinced him to put his name for next year's batch of Auror training and he had also stopped drinking. Scorpius had a bright future laid out in front of him and Rose was proud of who he was becoming. She only wished that she could be there by his side to see his potential but alas, that was not going to happen. The clocks were ticking and her time was almost up.

xXx

April:

Scorpius had headed home to take a shower and now that he was clean and in fresh clothes, he was going to apparate back to the hospital but he was stopped by the downcast face of Albus Potter.

Albus looked tired, which was probably a result of Auror training but he was nothing bad in comparison to his friend. He shared a look with Scorpius and in the next moment, the two men had enveloped each other in an embrace.

"I'm sorry mate. I know haven't been there for you and Rose but man, you can't imagine what I'm going through. I feel as if I've already lost the both of you and it hurts. It hurts like biting bitch. You're my brother in so many ways and she's my cousin and I want to help you but there's nothing I can do", Albus cried miserably.

Scorpius patted him on back. "I know Al, I know."

xXx

May:

"She's gone!" screamed Pansy, flinging her arms over Rose's still, no longer breathing body. "My baby is gone!" she kept on screaming wildly while Ron held her in his arms.

Scorpius gripped on Rose's wrist, trying to feel a pulse but there was none. The love of his life was really gone. She was gone.

Pansy's screams were nothing in comparison to the sounds that next left Scorpius's mouth. Tears flowed down his face as he kissed his beloved's forehead for one last time. Her suffering was finally over and she was free.

xXx

Two years later:

Life is short and you never know what to expect in it.

Harry Potter never expected that he would be the one to vanquish Voldemort and Draco Malfoy never thought that he would fall in love with a Muggle-born, the same Muggle-born whom he used to despise but Hermione Granger became his wife and mother of the Malfoy family heir.

George Weasley never expected to find love after his twin's death in the Final Battle but then he found solace in Angelina Johnson. No Gryffindor ever expected Severus Snape to be a good man and a spy for their side. No one expected that Blaise Zabini would become the Minister of Magic.

Everyone has their expectations but most of the time, the best and the worst things happen when the person least expects it.

Just like Rose Weasley didn't expect getting cancer or falling in love with her best friend.

She died, leaving a broken man. Scorpius Malfoy was no longer himself and he disappeared for a year to some unknown location. No one knew how he was and where he was until he showed up at his parents' doorstep a year after Rose's passing. His hair was ruffled, he was in a black suit and had a red tie around his neck and he seemed _fine _except that his blue grey eyes did not show any happiness. Turns out, he did become an Auror but with the American Ministry of Magic.

He re-connected himself with his mother and father and friends but he couldn't bear to look at the newly divorced Pansy Parkinson (formerly Weasley). Turns out that the death of their only daughter caused Ron and Pansy's once happy marriage to dissolve into dust and they parted on unhappy terms.

Pansy's brown eyes reminded of Scorpius of her daughter and that was something he most certainly could not manage without having a breakdown. He ate. He slept. He went to the occasional party or two but it was as if he wasn't completely alive.

Four years after Rose's death, Scorpius began dating other women. It didn't feel right to even go near those women but he owed it to Rose to try to move on and attempt to live life. He never stopped loving her and he didn't forget her and soon time eased the pain but the memories never went away.

**THE END**

**A/N: This was my first attempt at angst and this is the first time I've ever killed a main character in one of my stories and trust me, I feel as if I'm not in a very good place right now.****I feel anxious about posting this but am truly hoping that you'll review this and tell me what you think even if you hate it and think it's horrible. I won't mind as long as you're honest.**


End file.
